How Strong is Your Voice for Your Value? What Will You Show Others?

How often do you get opportunities to demonstrate who you are and what you’re capable of?

Opportunities, in and of themselves, can be tricky as life is about taking the opportunities which you’re given at some points in time while making opportunities for yourself at others.

Too many people wait for opportunities to be presented instead of working around life and trying to lay down the tracks for creating their own.

So, in your personal, work, and professional life, how do you create opportunities for yourself so you can demonstrate your value? Are you, at the very least, looking for those opportunities?

“Don’t sacrifice the valuable gains of the future for the ill-gotten gains of today.”

Leadership is not only about leading others, but understanding the tools you have at your disposal – the value you bring to the environment.

When do you begin to proactively make a difference for yourself and your environment? Here are some points to understand to help you realize where you stand when it comes to demonstrating your value and making a difference.

No Title Needed

Do you begin influencing as soon as you can and as soon as you feel/realize you have something valuable to contribute or do you wait only until someone addresses you as someone who can make a difference or “knights” you as a leader?

A title isn’t needed.

Can you convey your ideas coherently, make a solid impression, demonstrate pride (not ego) in what you can deliver, and wield influence on your environment before you get a leadership position?

Can you lead from anywhere? Leading from anywhere – it’s been mentioned on this site in various posts and mentioned at-large when it comes to leadership. You don’t have to wait to make a difference in any of your environments, be it work or personal.

When considering how much you want to — and can – put into your environment, you need to think about where you stand, what you want, and how you’re going to begin reconciling the two. You need to break down the way you think about yourself and what you can do in the environment in which you find yourself and to which you’d like to contribute.

How Have Your Experiences And Environments To-Date Impacted Your Voice?

Every interaction, experience, environment, and relationship, whether good or bad, plays some role in how you move forward for yourself. What impressions have been made upon you to-date by those around you — from your earliest days to now?

“The more you take without providing today, the more it will tarnish your reputation tomorrow.”

Taking stock of the bad along with the good is very important.

What do you build based upon the good you’ve experienced?

What have you refocused or rebuilt due to enduring a bad experience?

Based on those environments you’ve existed in or been exposed to in the past, how do you adjust their make up or influence your environments going forward?

In essence, do you make sure to foster the relationships that have encouraged you to grow and develop while paring back on the ones which haven’t contributed much and might have even siphoned off precious energy?

What Do You Want For Yourself?

So, have you assessed yourself and development with regard to what makes you valuable?

How do you feel about your leadership? Your professionalism? Your drive? Your motivation?

What do you think about them? How strong are they within you? How far do you want them to take you?

Although you may have always worked to improve in one way or another, maybe you haven’t reflected on these kinds of developmental questions as a whole to come up with your own profile. If you haven’t, here are some questions to start thinking about:

What do you want out of your life/situation/work?

In the end, what is it that you want out of your environments?

What is the end goal at work, at home, and during play?

What is the result you want out of each of them?

What will gain you fulfillment?

Where does that life/situation/work currently stand when compared to what you want?

Are you getting what you need out of your environments?

How close are you to those end goals you listed above?

How close are you to the result that you want?

How close are you to feeling fulfilled?

What have you done to reconcile what you currently have and what you want?

What steps have you taken to work toward what you want from your environment?

What steps have you taken to reach those end goals?

What steps have you taken to get the result you want?

What steps are you taking to reach your fulfillment?

What will you do going forward?/What changes will you make?

What will you do in the future to move in a direction that will fulfill all the points listed above?

The Exchange of Value

When it comes to this basic self-assessment, we need to keep in mind that the steps we are working on to develop ourselves need to deliver value.

In leadership, personal, and professional development, the goal is never to solely take value from your environment; it should be a give-and-take.

You should always be gleaning value from your environments, but you can’t do so without providing some in advance.

The more you take without providing today, the more it will tarnish your reputation tomorrow.

Don’t sacrifice the valuable gains of the future for the ill-gotten gains of today.

You always need to try to bring something to the table

“In leadership, personal, and professional development, the goal is never to solely take value from your environment; it should be a give-and-take.”

So, How Strong is Your Voice for Your Value?

No one is answering these specific assessment questions for you. You may get some advice on some general points based on what people may see from you on the outside, but people will never know your truest intentions and desires unless you tap into them, convey them, and try to work toward them yourself. For yourself.

This isn’t necessarily about taking major steps or actions, but can start with behaviors which you feel will influence your environment in a positive way.

Are you waiting for someone to give you permission to bring your best attributes, skills, and abilities to the table?

Are you waiting for someone to ask you what you want? In certain cases, that may be the protocol, but in most cases, it is not. In most cases, it is merely a matter of making the decision to assess your environment, do your due diligence, and take the steps best suited to reach your goals and make your mark.

There are those who may feel no desire to have their voice heard at all. Then there are those who feel as if they have more to say but don’t feel they should.

“Too many people wait for opportunities to be presented instead of working around life and trying to lay down the tracks for creating their own.”

Where do you fall?

Are you ready to step up and have your voice heard in any capacity, be it small or big?

Stepping up with your ideas doesn’t mean you have any intention of taking over any formal leadership.

Stepping up shouldn’t be seen as threatening the current leadership by anyone, neither yourself nor others. It isn’t a coup.

Being heard is what matters. In your personal life, it is reflecting who you are and what you desired while in your professional life it is conveying the value for which you were hired.

This is a lesson we all need to learn.

“…life is about taking the opportunities which you’re given at some points in time while making opportunities for yourself at others.”

Do you feel like you’re not putting forward as much as you’re capable of?

There is too much people can provide in their lives and work for them to decide to go silent.

You choose what to demonstrate to others. What will you show them?

So…What About You?

What do you want to make of the world around you? What would you like to see more of in it?

What can you provide of value to others? How will you go about doing so as soon as you feel competent in your abilities?

What examples have you seen of a temperamental, emotional #leader delivering great results?
If you did witness such a case, how was it the environment actually came to be successful?
#leadership#organization#boss#manager

Leadership Lesson: There can be no growth or development forward if you’re tolerating too much, unwisely using your precious resources, including energy and reputation, to hold things together or keep appearances.
#leadership#coaching#relationshipsow.ly/YwgW30pnARA

Some quotes can speak to us directly. If there are none that have spoken to you, or driven you to push forward, what advice received in your own experience has motivated you to push forward with everything you have?
#motivation#drive#success#coachingow.ly/lSp030mzXov

@VPsalesBD@AdamMGrant@seanmlandry It's important to define 1:1. They don't necessarily lead to micromanagement. The best ones I've seen are more, "What are you up to? What do you need? What's your plan going forward? Ok, after all that, here's what I can suggest. Let me know what you need before our next 1:1."

My top tip: Before you declare a major, go interview 5 people in the field you'd like to enter after graduation. The industry landscape will shift, but try to get a sense of what awaits you -- the good and the bad.
#college#careers#development#lifeow.ly/csLo30plqA5

Leadership Lesson: We need to understand what it is that keeps us repeating those behaviors, habits, and practices that keep us from our best development and goals.
Is it Fear? Complacency? Distraction? Tradition?
#fear#legacy#development#leadershipow.ly/ccRg50vnrgy

There IS a huge difference between shyness and introversion.
Most times, understanding the root of how you approach life, work, projects, and people, helps you work to harness it, refine it, to make it work for you.
#introversion#shyness#developmentow.ly/d7zC30kP0nv

What do you think? What have you seen? How much have you demonstrated when you've interviewed? Where is that sweet spot between This is who I am and This is what I can do for you?
Resume alone is not enough.
#interview#hiring#coaching#successow.ly/FrGi30pfvn9